Hello, my friends,
How is everyone doing? Not great, right? It’s ok. You’re not crazy and you may not even have realized the connection, but the struggles we are all having are directly connected to how long we have been in this pandemic. Pandemic Fatigue is a real thing and the longer it goes on, the more of a toll it is taking on people…even if you don’t realize that’s why other things are so hard.
It seems to be sneaking up on us all. Just not wanting to do what we need to, staying in, low motivation, just feeling blah… Bad things just feel worse.
We need to take better care of ourselves and others. There is a website “Make Sure Your Friends are Ok” that talks about having hard conversations. When we talk to people and say “how are you?” we don’t really want to know. We just want everyone to be “fine” and we tell them that we are “fine”. But it’s not the truth. Let’s speak the truth! Let’s say the hard things. Let’s share and connect and be willing to be vulnerable and be present for others.
When someone says “fine”, say “But are you really? Because I know I’m not.” See where it goes from there. Let’s listen to each other and truly “see” our friends and family.
How about our kids? Are they ok? They most likely are not. We can’t necessarily fix it for them, but we can “see” them and say, “I know you’re not ok. No one is these days. How can I help you through this time?”
They (and we) need to keep ourselves sort of ok. Here’s how:
- Exercise! Exercise! Exercise! – Do anything! Move your bodies. Do it daily like your life depends upon it.
- Get out into nature
- Connect with friends – even if you feel like one more zoom might drive you over the edge. It also might nourish you in ways you didn’t know you needed
- Get creative – whatever that looks like for them
- Read a book
- Watch a laugh-out-loud comedy
- Have a buddy to connect with even for a quick text daily to check on each other
